By
observing mental states you also become aware of the seven
factors of enlightenment. These are: awareness of awareness,
investigation of the Way, vigour, joy, serenity,
concentration and equanimity. (The Buddha, Maha
Sattipatthana Sutta 14-16)

The
first two are paramount and the last five are outcomes of these.
This is what my book Beyond the Separate Self is all
about, becoming aware of awareness through direct
investigation and then continuing with further
investigation of the Way (the Tao, the nature of
reality). Once one is aware of awareness then one can
undertake further investigations not needing to relying on any
teachings, although these may be useful for
confirming what one has discovered.

I
recently received an e-mail from a reader who said they could not
tell the difference between awareness and thought. I
replied that I did not see how this was possible (please excuse
my lack of acumen) and suggested that he consider the following:

(A)
Thought(The)
Awareness

A sound in the mind.That
which hears (is aware of) this sound.

An object, some thing..The
subject, the seer of this thing.

The thing that is witnessed.The witness which is aware of this thing.

The
(thing that is) seen.The seer (which sees this thing).

A movement in the mind.The aware stillness in which the movement is noticed.

The
(thing that is) knownThe
knower (of the thing).

That (thing) which comes &goes.That (subjective presence) which is always here.

An
object of experience.The experiencer.

So
awareness is the constant conscious subjective presence which is
aware of ephemeral objects (thoughts and sensations, mind and
body) as they come and go.

'Awareness
of Awareness' is the key to awakening by the path of
self-knowledge (Jnana), which is the most straightforward of the
many paths available. Once one has become 'aware of awareness'
then awakening is a direct result of this and the continuing
investigation of this.

This
is extremely simple, almost obvious, just the acknowledgement of
the fact that one is aware of one's thoughts/mental
images/sensations and that this awareness is always present
whereas thoughts/mental images/sensations come and go.

The
danger is that the mind will dismiss this as being too simple
(and obvious) and therefore of no value. I urge you not to allow
this, for if you do you will be overlooking the most precious
realization. The mind naturally does this as it is not in its
interests to acknowledge this recognition, for this will
undermine its central dominant position.

Most
people identify with their minds as being what they 'are' and
this becoming 'aware of awareness' has the potential to
completely destroy this illusion. So the mind will try to negate
this 'seeing'; the simple solution to this is, when it comes to
reality, dont believe a single thought. Just rely on
immediate direct experience, and this direct experience that you
are awareness can be had instantly.

As
soon as the mind carries on with its doubts, questions and
tricks, notice that you are effortlessly aware of every thought.
If you then just watch the thoughts from pure awareness, without
following a single one, they soon quieten down and give up. This
is an ongoing process but it is no cause for despondency. For
every time this occurs these negative thoughts can make you turn
to awareness itself and in awareness there is only serenity and
peace In fact, in the same way, every single thing in
existence is a pointer towards awareness. For everything
perceived appears in this pure awareness that you are.

This
is easy to see by investigating the nature of ones
moment-to-moment experience, and my book aims to provide a
framework within which this investigation may be successfully
carried out. This results in becoming aware of
awareness, after which one can carry out deeper
investigations into the nature of reality with this awareness (of
awareness) as the starting point. The great masters say that there is no end to
awakening and spiritual experience, theres always more to
be found - what a wonderful idea! Sri Ramakrishna used to
continually tell his devotees to go forward and make
further discoveries. You will find this is more than an idea, for
you will discover that the deeper you go, the more you become
aware of awareness, the more that will be revealed.